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Category: Fitness

I had a horrible July. I was lazy and wasn’t working out but once or twice a week and playing golf, then, right when I decided to get back to working out again and get moving, I cut my left pinkie finger on the mandolin slicer! I was down for another week.

During my hiatus, my accountability group on Facebook decided to do a 12-Week Challenge. I decided to do my P90X program since I got great results from it the first time, but, to torture myself just a little bit more, I added Insanity in for a nice, crazy hybrid workout rotation! Well, since I was doing all this already anyway, complete with before and after photos, measurements and the rest, I decided I was going to enter the Beachbody Challenge, too! What the heck! I’m working out anyway, cleaning up my eating, why not try for $100,000 prize, right? So, I’m doing both with one rotation.

Today was Day 1 – I did P90X Chest & Back and Insanity Cardio Abs. Much to my surprise, I haven’t lost much strength! That was great! Unfortunately, the temps were above 90 again today, so I overheated at the very end of P90X – nausea ensued, ugh. I rested, drank more water, which I drink a lot of already during the day and during my workouts, cooled off over the a/c and popped Cardio Abs in. I had to keep taking breaks. I would get nauseous every few minutes. I did manage to get through to the end – finally.

Tomorrow, is cardio only, so hopefully, I’ll be able to get through the workout without the overheating and nausea.

I’m excited! Oh, I said that already! I really hope to see the improvements I want – more lean muscle and lower body fat!

More to come!

P.S. – If you’re interested in the Beachbody Challenge and what it’s all about, email me, message me, tweet me and I’ll get back to you! Because my blog is a free one, I can’t post any links here to Beachbody. Oh well . . . onward!

I’ve been yakking about kettlebells for a while now and I know everyone is TIRED of hearing about it and not seeing anything from me. Here it is! It’s not pretty and I’m just learning, but I had fun with my practice session today! This was the first time I’ve had a chance to play, ahem, practice seriously with my new toy!

I had already done my scheduled workout – Supreme 90 Tabata and Stretch Max #3 by Cathe Friedrich. I was ready to head outside and do some swings.

My plan was just to do a few swings, maybe 10-15 just to work on my form and test the weight and size of my new bell. When it arrived, I was surprised by the size because the 25 lb. kettlebell I was working with at my training session seemed to be a little bit smaller and the handle was just a bit wider.

Well, I got going and it felt good, so I continued to a full 25 two-handed swings. I took a water break briefly and moved on to one-handed swings. I ran into a little bit a of a memory problem here because I couldn’t remember what Colin, my trainer at Punch, had told me about hand position for the one-handed swings. Doh! It took me a little trial and error, but I finally got! I did these, obviously, with both sides, then went back to another 25 two-handed swings.

The conclusion of this little exercise and test run:

I LOVE MY NEW TOY! I can’t wait to get more comfortable with the swing and practice the other exercises I was taught! I am looking forward to creating workouts and borrowing some from a friend of mine who has already developed a lot of her own mixes!

I am confident that adding this modality of workouts will really help me get rid of the pudge and flab! Please do your best to ignore it!

What kind of blogger goes someplace really cool without a camera? ME! Doh! I meant to take a few pictures tonight, but totally forgot! Shame on me! Why am I so upset about that? Because I have a Punch Kettlebell Gym in my town, two actually! Anthony Diluglio started these gyms here in Rhode Island and I had no idea who he was and why these gyms were so special until I met my kettlebell hoisting friends!

I became interested in kettlebells after talking with my friends and seeing the variety of uses and workouts they got out of them. Also, they are great for compound exercise movements and working the entire body in a shorter workout while burning more calories! Kettlebell workouts increase overall strength much better than conventional weightlifting! I had to have me some of that! When I told them there was a kettlebell gym here and I told them the name, they got all excited!

So, I set up an appointment for an orientation and that’s what I did tonight!

I walked in and my first impression was “Ew.” It’s gritty, not fancy or loaded with top of the line equipment and it was LOUD! I’m an at home exerciser, so the noise was difficult to get used to. They were dropping the kettlebells and dumbbells right on the floor. No rules against it and, in fact, it’s encouraged! They do their workouts indoors and outdoors! How novel! I sat down and waited for my trainer and took some time to watch the end of the class that was going on. They were working in 1 minute intervals from planks to ropes, back to planks, then full sit ups with a kettlebell in hand and exercises with the kettlebells that I didn’t know the name of. There wasn’t a dry body in the house! The participants were old, young, big, small and all hoisting some serious weight! They make swinging those ropes around look easy!

Oh! The dumbbells? Remember those old silent film clips of the guys with the handlebar mustaches lifting those barbells with the big round ends? That’s what they use there! How cool is that? They also have these things that look like bowling pins. Nifty!

My trainer came over and introduced himself. We talked for a bit and then he took me to a relatively clear area of the workout floor. Did I mention that everything is done in one big room? No fancy sound-proofed separate rooms for classes and individual workouts. It’s a true community gym!

The first thing he did was put me on the ropes. I thought, “Hey! I can do this! What does it take to sling a couple of ropes around?” Yeah, right! I started out strong, but by the end, I could hardly get the rope to move! I was panting and sweating. That was only after 1 minute! lol I’m a fit girl, really, but the way you move those ropes and the weight of them, gives you a heck of a workout in just 1 minute! Next, he taught me to do a Turkish Get Up without any weight. These are challenging just like that! We kept moving from one exercise to another. I learned how to move to do a proper windmill and a clean and more! I can’t wait to see how I feel tomorrow! I learned a new way to do pushups that doesn’t stress my shoulders or my wrists and, of course, he had to throw some planks in there as well!

I thoroughly enjoyed the orientation!

I finally remembered what the gym reminded me of. I worked out at a gym back in Georgia like that – gritty with that old gym sock smell, full of big guys serious about their workouts. It was the best place I ever lifted weights at!

Now, to convince my husband I HAVE to go back for the more in-depth kettlebell workshop . . .